Ed's Scribbles

Your friendly study buddy's blog, preparing you for college. www.dot-ed.com

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The web's most comprehensive guide to American punctuation.

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An Episode of Diaresis

A diaeresis (also spelled “dieresis”) is a diacritical mark in the form of two dots, like an umlaut, placed over a vowel to indicate that it is pronounced as a separate syllable.

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Comma Queen: Possessed

By Marry Norris

Today, we’re going to tackle the apostrophe. The apostrophe is under a lot of stress, largely because in texting you have to switch screens to insert it, and who has time for that? The rules governing the use of the apostrophe in forming the possessive are simple. The exceptions can make people want to throw up their hands, but it just is not that hard. Give it a try.

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Comma Queen: Who/Whom for Dummies

By Marry Norris

“Who” and “whom” are relative pronouns, and the trick for choosing the right one is to switch the clause around so that you can substitute a personal pronoun. Personal pronouns have a property called case. “I,” “he,” “she,” “we,” and “they” are in the nominative case, and function as subjects of a sentence or a clause. “Me,” “him,” “her,” “us,” and “them” are in the objective case, and are used as direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of a preposition. Your ear will tell you which personal pronoun is correct.

Then all you have to know is that “who” is nominative and “whom” is objective. When you put the sentence back together, you use “who” if the pronoun was in the nominative case and “whom” if it was in the objective case. “Who” is to “he” as “whom” is to “him,” etc.

Try it at home—it’s safe and easy!

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Comma Queen: The Lay of the Lie/Lay Land

By Marry Norris

Tired of being corrected for misusing “lay” for “lie” and “laid” for “lay”? It’s a matter of tense and the principal parts of two overlapping verbs.

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Comma Queen: Series Première

By Marry Norris

Today, we’re kicking off a video series devoted to language in all its facets: grammar, syntax, vocabulary, spelling, usage, and punctuation. As much as possible, we’ll use current issues of the magazine to illuminate things large and small. We’re going to start small, with an elementary lesson on comma usage.

While it’s true that the comma is one of the smallest things on the printed page (only the period is smaller), this little squiggle has a history rich in controversy. For every rule governing its use, a situation will arise where the rule may not apply. Readers may argue with our decisions and point out inconsistencies—and no doubt will. On with the show!

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Comma Queen: If Less Is More, Sometimes Fewer Is Better

The rule is simple: use “fewer” for items that can be counted, like beans, and “less” for things that can’t—bacon, say. There are subtle exceptions, of course—droves of them—but all we can do is try, knowing that fewer mistakes will translate into less angst among the sticklers.

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Comma Queen: Mad Dash

By Marry Noris

The hyphen (-) is a short bit, used in compound words and to break words between syllables when they run over the end of a line. The en dash (–) is reserved for compound compounds—it’s an overgrown hyphen. The em dash (—) is the mad one, versatile enough to act as comma, semicolon, colon, or hybrid of all three, as well as to indicate an interruption. For instance, writing this introduction has played havoc with my—

[samanthainsecondary]

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thesnarkyschoolteacher: Love this checklist from Edutopia. Link here. 

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A brief history of Daylight Saving Time in the United States - TimeZone

By act of Congress, Daylight Saving Time (DST) changes the official time. The result is we wake up one hour earlier during the summer months and the evenings have more daylight. The dates marking the beginning and end of daylight time have changed as Congress has passed new statutes. As of 2007, daylight time begins [...]

[myjetpack]

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myjetpack:

My book of cartoons “You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack” is out now. Click here for details.

by cartoonist Tom Gauld

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myjetpack:

An Alphabet of Books

A drawing I have in this show.

Also, I have a new print for sale.

by cartoonist Tom Gauld

[scienceisbeauty]

Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.

Confucius

(via scienceisbeauty)

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The Big Bang

How did the universe begin? Did the universe come from something or nothing? Gillian Anderson explains The Big Bang theory Narrated by Gillian Anderson. Scripted by Nigel Warburton.

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The Harm Principle: How to live your life the way you want to

John Stuart Mill argues the case for being able to live your life the way you want to. Narrated by Harry Shearer. Scripted by Nigel Warburton.

[oztrekk]

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oztrekk:

Newcastle Engineering knows what’s cool about math

The team behind the University of Newcastle‘s highly successful ‘What is Engineering?’ video has now created ‘The cool maths behind engineering’ to encourage higher participation in mathematics.

This short educational STEM video is targeted mainly at high school students—especially those who are looking to study engineering at university.

The animation brings to life the math and engineering behind: the New York Times Square fireworks display, a parachute jump from space and generating renewable energy in Denmark.

We get a glimpse of the equations and calculations involved in determining mass, launch velocity, terminal velocity, drag coefficient, wind resistance and power generation capacity.

In addition to mathematics, it touches on the applications of aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, mechatronics engineering and software engineering.

This is the latest in a line of ‘explainer’ videos created by the Newcastle Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, available on their YouTube Channel.

About the University of Newcastle School of Engineering

The Newcastle School of Engineering is dedicated to research and training in the disciplines of Chemical, Civil, Environmental, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, and Surveying. The engineering school’s programs are underpinned by some of the most exciting research in Australia. In the Australian Research Council 2012 research excellence ratings, the school received a top rating of 5 (well above world standard) for Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy and Civil and Mechanical Engineering.

[johngoodwin225-deactivated20180]

Bayes' Theorem with Lego

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johngoodwin225:

Bayes’ theorem explain using lego.